‘YOU HAVE BEEN A WITNESS’ SERIES COLLECTION – CHAEEUN YOO
FEATURED ARTIST: 유채은 / YOO CHAEEUN
THIS COLLECTION CONTAINS IMAGES AND ISSUES REGARDING SEXUAL VIOLENCE, RAPE, CHILD SEX-TRAFFICKING, WARTIME SEX-TRAFFICKING SYSTEM, COLONIZATION, IMPERIALISM, AND BRUTALITY.
‘FROM OUR PEOPLE TO OUR LAND, WE WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING.’
2022 LINOLEUM BLOCK ON PRINTING PAPER
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A BLACK AND WHITE LINOCUT PRINT OF A PERSON IN A KOREAN HANBOK RAISING TWO FISTS. THEY ARE STARING WITH A SERIOUS EXPRESSION AS MOUNTAINS ARE IN THE BACKGROUND LANDSCAPE. TO THEIR RIGHT, THERE ARE WORDS STATING, “FROM OUR PEOPLE TO OUR LAND, WE WILL NOT STOP FIGHTING!” IN KOREAN. THEY ARE STANDING ABOVE THE BURIED PEOPLE’S HEADS WHO HAVE PASSED. THE PEOPLE HAVE BOTH ENRAGED AND SORROWFUL EXPRESSIONS.]
“IN HISTORY, WE OFTENTIMES SOLELY VIEW THE DEVASTATIONS THAT COME WITH COLONIZATION, IMPERIALISM, AND DESPOTIC REGIMES.
IN THIS LINOCUT PRINT, I WANTED TO SHED A LIGHT INTO THE UNWAVERING HOPE AND REVOLUTIONARY RAGE THAT ARISES FROM SUCH TRAGEDIES.
THE SORROWFUL YET ENRAGED FACES OF THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED COUPLED WITH THE OPTIMISM HELD BY THOSE STILL LIVING–I WANTED TO DEMONSTRATE MY HOPE FOR THE FUTURE AS A KOREAN DIASPORA LIVING UNDER THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF ‘US’ FOREIGN POLICY.”
‘WE ARE ONE!’
2022 LINOLEUM BLOCK ON PRINTING PAPER
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A BLACK AND WHITE LINOCUT PRINT WITH THE KOREAN PENINSULA STATING, “”REJECT SEPARATION.” ON THE RIGHT, A PERSON IS PERFORMING PUNGMUL AND HAS A HOPEFUL EXPRESSION ON THEIR FACE. IN THE BACKGROUND, THERE IS TEXT STATING, “WE ARE ONE!” IN KOREAN AND “TONGIL” (REUNIFICATION) IN ENGLISH.]
“AS WESTERN MILITARISM INFILTRATES THE LIVES OF THE GLOBAL MAJORITY, MY ART CENTERS AROUND KEY SITES OF MY OWN SELF. BEING A KOREAN DIASPORA, I WORK WITH VARIOUS MEDIUMS TO SHARE THE DEVASTATION, RAGE, AND HOPE THAT ARISES FROM THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE IMPERIAL CORE HAS INDUBITABLY BRUTALIZED AND SEPARATED MY PEOPLE. IN THESE TWO PRINTS, I WANT TO SHARE THE UNABATING HOPE AND RAGE THAT IS EXEMPLIFIED THROUGH OUR RESISTANCE TO SUCH EXPLOITATIONS.”
‘LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE’
2023 BALLPOINT PEN ON PAPER
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[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: TINY WORDS THAT STATE, “‘US’ IMPERIALISM AND JAPANESE MILITARISM KILLS” IS WRITTEN ALL OVER THE ARTWORK, FORMING THE TWO HANDS AND THE MAIN SUBJECT. THE SUBJECT IS PERSONIFIED AS THE PAIN CAUSED BY ‘US’ IMPERIALISM AND JAPANESE MILITARISM, SPECIFICALLY A KOREAN ‘COMFORT WOMEN’ WHO IS HOLDING A SORROWFUL EXPRESSION. THE TWO RIGHT HANDS ARE THE HANDS OF VIOLENCE. ONE BEING JAPAN AND THE OTHER BEING THE ‘US.’ THE NEGATIVE SPACE SURROUNDING THE SUBJECT AND THE TWO HANDS ARE THE SAME WORDS WRITTEN ALL OVER, “US’ IMPERIALISM AND JAPANESE MILITARISM KILLS.” IN BLACK AND WHITE.]
“ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL METHODS WE PASS ON KNOWLEDGE AND HISTORY IS THROUGH STORYTELLING. WHETHER IT IS THE WORDS THAT BLANKET YOUR FONDEST MEMORIES OR WHETHER IT IS THE STORIES THAT BRING YOU MERCILESS HUMILIATION, OUR DECISION TO SHARE SUCH EXPERIENCES ULTIMATELY DICTATES HOW HUMANITY RESPONDS TO THE PAST AND ITS CUTTHROAT VULNERABILITY AND UNCOMFORTABILITY.
HISTORY IS TENDER. HISTORY IS BRUTAL. HISTORY IS HONEST.
FOR THIS MICROGRAPHY PIECE, I UTILIZED PHRASES AND WORDS (‘US’ IMPERIALISM AND JAPANESE MILITARISM KILLS) AS A FOUNDATION TO PERSONIFY THE RAW AND EVER-TRUE CONSEQUENCES OF PATERNALISM, DESPOLIATION, AND OPPORTUNISM. ‘COMFORT WOMEN’ (MOST PREFERABLY CALLED BY GRANDMOTHER BECAUSE THE TERM, “COMFORT WOMEN,” REFLECTS THE AGGRESSORS’ PERSPECTIVE AND ‘LABELIZATION’ OF THESE WOMEN IN A CISHET PATRIARCHAL WORLD) IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC AND BEYOND HAVE BEEN DISPARAGINGLY SEXUALIZED, EXPLOITED, AND COMMODIFIED INTO MERE ‘PUPPETS’ FOR THE RUTHLESS FRAMEWORKS OF MILITARIZED SEX SLAVERY.
SUCH ISSUES HAVE NO ‘EUPHEMISM’ TO TRY AND ‘SOFTEN’ THE BLUNT TRUTH OF CORRUPTION.
THE TWO HANDS AND THE SUBJECT: FOR WHOM DO YOU ‘HUMANIZE’ MORE INTENSELY? AFTER ALL, THEY ARE ‘JUST’ DRAWN AND MADE UP OF A BUNCH OF WORDS.
DO YOU NEED TO SEE THE FACES OF THE HANDS TO CONNECT THAT THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE? PEOPLE WHO, PERHAPS, HAVE FAMILY–FRIENDS EVEN? OR CAN YOU ALREADY INFER THAT THESE MERE HANDS, AS OBJECTIFIED AND SIMPLIFIED AS THEY ARE, HAVE, CONVERSELY, OBJECTIFIED THE SUBJECT? OR IS IT TOO DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE SUCH A THING?
WITH A MEDIUM AS SIMPLE AS PEN AND PAPER, I WANTED TO COMPREHENSIVELY DEMONSTRATE THE EXTREME COMPLEXITIES OF WWII IMPERIALISM, MILITARISM, AND SEX SLAVERY. I WANTED TO REVERSE THE WESTERN, PROPAGANDIZED NARRATIVE THAT CENTERS AROUND THE INFLICTORS RATHER THAN THE INFLICTED. THEIR ‘SUPPOSED TRAUMA’ RATHER THAN THOSE WHO THEY BRUTALIZED.
THE WOMAN IS THE CENTER. CENTER OF THE PAIN IN WHICH THE ‘WORDS,’ “‘US’ IMPERIALISM AND JAPANESE MILITARISM KILLS” HAVE DIRECTLY CAUSED.
THEREFORE, AS I VISITED THE WAR AND WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM IN KOREA THIS PAST SUMMER, I TOOK A PHOTOGRAPH NEXT TO THE WALL OF APPEAL, SHOWCASING PLASTERED FACES OF OUR HALMONIS (GRANDMOTHERS) WHO HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO SUCH VIOLENCES.
AND WHEN I WAS COMPELLED TO CREATE THIS SERIES, SPECIFICALLY THIS ART PIECE, I COULD NOT HELP BUT REFLECT ON MY APPA’S (DAD’S) BLISTERINGLY HONEST QUESTION HE MADE WHEN VISITING THE JEJU-DO 4.3 PEACE MUSEUM: “HOW CAN WE MEMORIALIZE THE ‘PAST’ AS IF IT IS RESOLVED HISTORY?”
HOW CAN WE RECONCILE WITH OURSELVES WHEN WE KNOW SUCH TRAGEDIES ARE STILL ONGOING?
I HOPE THIS PIECE ENABLES YOU TO GRASP THE POWER OF WORDS, AS ONE OF THE KEY SITES TO ORAL AND WRITTEN STORYTELLING.
I HOPE THIS PIECE FORCES YOU TO DECIPHER WHAT SOME VIEW HISTORY AS ‘INDECIPHERABLE;’ DISTINGUISH THE ‘UNDISTINGUISHABLE’ AND IMAGINE THE ‘UNIMAGINABLE.’”
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PHOTO TAKEN AT WAR AND WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM KOREA – PLASTERED WALL OF OUR HALMONIES’ FACES.
CLOSE-UP VIEWS INTO THE WORDS THAT FORM THE ART PIECE.
ARTIST STATEMENT
CHAEEUN YOO
CREATING IS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE.
AS BORDERS DISTORT MY PERCEPTION OF SOVEREIGNTY, FAMILY, AND UNITY, I CONTINUE TO QUESTION THE WESTERNIZED AND SUPPOSED ‘DOGMATIC’ DEFINITION OF: LIBERATION. I WORK TO EXPOSE THE WEST’S ILLUSIONS OF ‘POST-WAR’ AUTONOMY AND FREEDOM, EXPRESSING MY RAGE FOR THE SEPARATION OF MY PEOPLE AND LAND IN THE KOREAN PENINSULA. THEREFORE, I EXPERIMENT WITH VARIOUS MEDIUMS, SUCH AS PHOTOGRAPHY, BLOCK-PRINTING, MIXED-MEDIA, AND CLAY, TO EXPLORE THE KEEN DELICACIES OF MEMORY AND STORYTELLING. MY WORK SEEKS TO CELEBRATE THE VULNERABILITIES OF EMOTION, MOURN THE DEVASTATIONS OF COLONIZATION, AND HIGHLIGHT THE COMMUNITIES OF MILITANCY WHO HAVE CEASELESSLY ORGANIZED AGAINST NETWORKS OF CAPITALISM AND HEGEMONY.
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A WARM THANK YOU TO ONE OF OUR IYAGI’S ORGANIZERS, CHAEEUN YOO, FOR SHARING THEIR ART SERIES COLLECTION, “YOU HAVE BEEN A WITNESS.”
REACH OUT TO CHAEEUN:
EMAIL- YOOTIRENE@GMAIL.COM
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